Sword Art Online : Chronicles of Ryuga Hikari
by Hikari no Shonen
Summary: He was overjoyed when playing S.A.O, that is until Akihiko Kayaba made his appearance and told the players that death in-game means death in reality, how does Ryuga plan on reaching the 100th floor and defeating its boss?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online or any of its characters, but I do own most of the ones in this story.

**Prologue**** :**

One particularly windy Monday morning (1/07/22), in the city of Tokyo, a Red haired woman, Ichigo Hikari and her son, a young, jet black and messy haired boy named Ryuga Hikari, Grandson of Higashi Hikari and Hinata Hikari, were driving through Nishishinjuku on their way to Minato-Ku where Ryuga's grandparents lived.

"Are we there yet, Mom?" He asked his mother with an intense anxious look on his pale face as he pushed his glasses back into position with his index finger.

His mother let out a sigh and asked "Wow you seem to be in quite a hurry, do you dislike me that much?"

He laughed at the sarcastic look on her face as he replied "No, its just that there's this new game being released soon and grandpa said that..."

"I should've guessed as to why he plead to get you here, but it can't be helped, after all you're like "him"." she said as she let out a slight chuckle.

"Well, tell me when we get there." He announced placing his headset over his ears which had been plugged into a handheld he was playing on.

Ryuga had just defeated a boss when he heard his mother say."Ryuga, come on, get out, we're here!"

"I'll be right there, just let me save the game first!" He objected as he suddenly felt a heavy pulling force in his stomach, it must be S.A.O, he thought.

He saved the game and it off, loosened the safety belt from around his waist, as he got out of their steel silver Nissan GTR, he pondered on what his avatar would look like, and what he was going to name him, whatever it was, he had to have a cool name. He took out his cell phone and walked through the pathway leading to their destination.

As they approached the door he thought about the previous time he visited "this place", that was when he was introduced to his father's favourite RPG, Final Fantasy XII-2, which he instantly grew a liking to, and became obsessed with the genre and started playing Dragon Age Online on his computer as soon he they got home that holiday.

His mother rang a doorbell to the left side of a glass door which could only be seen through from the inside, and not too long after, a grey haired old lady opened it. He let out a longing smiled as he saw the face of his grandmother since it has been almost 3 years since the last time they met.

"Hi, Grandma" he as she threw a "so glad you came" at him saying "Oh look, it's a little boy, come in, I have candy, I promise I won't kidnap you."

His smile disappeared and became an awkward look of confusion as he asked her "But grandma, why would you wanna kidnap your grandson?"

A smile appeared on her face as replied saying "Oh, in that case I definitely won't kidnap you."

She then invited them inside, all laughing she invited Ichigo to sit down on one of the three couchs in the lounge. Ryuga definitely missed his grandparents' house, to him it was like his second home, he had been had been waiting for that day for nearly 5 months seeing that the first generation of VRMMORPGs were soon to be released and his grandfather had promised him that he would get Sword Art Online and his NervGear as soon as he they arrived, so naturally Ryuga went around the house looking for his grandfather who he found in the kitchen with a suspicious look on his face, Ryuga scanned his grandfather in a none suspecting manner.

"Wow, look how old you've become!" Implied the old man as he hid a box he had in a cupboard behind him.

Ryuga laughed and replied "Gramps, you shouldn't comment on how old I am when you're nearly in you look like you're about to turn to dust."

His grandfather laughed and told him "You've become pretty good at this comeback thing. Did bring your computer along, if so I thing we should set it up in your room."

Ryuga had a computer of which he was most proud of, having a octacore CPU, DX22 128-Bit GPU, 32GB RAM and a 12TB internal HDD in it with an extra 6 external, he cherished his PC more than he did his life, because to him that was his escape from reality, a place where he could be free to do anything, whether it was to kill off the covenant army on Halo : Revenge of Spartan MkXII, or completing quests on Cloud 9, this was where he felt at his best. And now he would be playing a VRMMORPG, where imagination is turned into a reality, nothing could possibly go wrong with it, otherwise it would never have been announced in the fist place, he couldn't wait to get started.

Ryuga ran through the house past his mother and grandmother straight through the now open door, he quickly ran around the corner where his mother had parked Nissan and opened the right door, he let the seat down and reached out his arms to pick up a backpack, in which he had put his computer, it was usually heavy for a modern computer, but that was due to his PDQ A/C system he installed in it. He closed the door behind him and went back into the house, he walk through the lounge and as he got to the passage straight ahead from the door he turned to his left and climbed a huge flight of stairs to the second store, he walked straight and entered the room to his left. He quickly set up his PC and plugged three display units into it and turned on the power to see whether it was properly connected or not, and as always he had done everything correctly and decided to ask his grandfather if he could start installing it onto the NervGear and install the NerveWare onto his PC so that it'll pick up the signals from NervGear.

He went downstairs shouting "Gramps! Gramps! Could I please have the NervGear and S.A.O you said I would get?"

Higashi signalled him by whistling aloud, Ryuga ran in anticipation of a NervGear but only saw one box behind his grandfather, he knew that this had to be the NervGear, but he couldn't see S.A.O. He let this slip seeing that his grandfather would probably give it later. But he realised that this wasn't the case when he saw Higashi didn't have it.

"The game's release date has been pushed back two month, seeing that I own a gamestop, I 20 BETA versions, who's servers will be opening starting at ten tonight, I have to choose 20 worthy gamers and you happened to be one of them." Chuckled a lightly smiling Higashi taking out a black game casing.

Ryuga first stood still as though thinking about the situation he was in, he stayed this way for a while then responded with a huge smile on his face as he joyfully took the casing from his grandfather's hands. "So I'll have more experience than most other players, thanks gramps, this is better than the full version."

Excited as he was, Ryuga had to wait another four hours before he could play, what a drag he thought deciding that he was going to set up everything slowly and then browse the web or watch anime. Time had passed and he got ready to play Sword Art Online. A blue light flickered from inside the NervGear to say that it was active. He lay on his bed and put the NervGear on his head. His palms started sweating because of the excitement. Just as suddenly as it went dark a register button appeared in front of him. He stared at it for a while then poked it.

He got a small fright as he heard a woman's voice say "Welcome to Sword Art Online, a VRMMORPG, create an account to proceed to creating your avatar."

It also worked by a eye/voice recognition system, but he preferred to type it out the word Hikari, as it was the first thing he could think of, combining he last name with his first. He then put in his user password and pressed continue, after that, a list of options appeared under the heading of *Avatar Creation*. Ryuga pushed the randomise button and a short, white haired, dark skinned, fat boy appeared.

"Bleh, I don't wanna look like that!" He protested as he pushed the randomise button once again.

This time a medium in length, red haired, pale boy appeared, Ryuga turned his hair black, made him a bit taller (to fit his length, that way he'd be comfortable and not fight at an awkward hight), turned his eyes brown, and darkened his complection a little, thereafter he scrolled to the bottom of the page and touched the "Finish off" rejoiced deep inside as a huge grassland appeared with a village in the distance, feeling wind blowing through his hair, one wouldn't even say it was a game, finally he was in the world of Sword Art Online.

**Side Note:This** is my first story, so I'd like to ask you to help me in whatever mistakes I made, and also to tell me what you would like me to add, I'll run it pass my associates and we'll make a decision on it, thank you for reading, and I hope you'll enjoy the next chapters.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**** Two Man Team**

Ryuga decided to go to the town, thinking that he should look on some advice boards so that he could have a head up on everyone else who spawned moments before him.

As he enter the gates he saw the name of the town was Starting Town. He continued walking and saw a tall, pale, white haired man with bright yellow eyes walk up to him and asked "Excuse me but do you know how to get better equipment, by the way my name is Bloodsucker2000, it sucks having such an awesome name when this bald fellow challenged me to a duel and I lost, we were the same level, I don't understand how he could defeat me that easily!"

"Well try the armoury, they should have decent stuff." He replied pointing at a building right behind the white haired man.

The man turned his head around, stared for a moment then turn it back blushing out of embarrassment. "How did that get there?" He asked in a rhetorical manner as he waved goodbye and ran at it.

I do not want to be in a guild with that noob, the thought running through Ryuga's head as Bloodsucker2000 went through the armoury's doors. He opened a map of the town and whispered "Why didn't he just do this?" to no one in particular.

He saw an info board close by and marked it on the map, he looked at the ground and footprints appeared in the direction of the board, he walked to it thinking that after that he should go and battle monsters for money then go to the armoury get a short sword and light armour that increases his agility stat and whatever else he needed. As he got closer to the board he saw a pale, black haired man who seemed to have to same idea as him. Ryuga stood next to the man and read the part under *how to play*, it was quiet easy to understand and he caught on how to win fights easily through that. Ryuga wanted to test out the new found knowledge by fighting, but the monsters on this level couldn't be much of a challenge.

He looked at the black haired guy next to him and wanted to ask for a fight when he heard the voice of Bloodsucker2000 calling "Hey,Hikariga! I think I have the fighting part in control, would you like to test me?" He stood next to Ryuga then opened his menu and issued a duel.

Ryuga turn around to ask the black haired man, but he had mysteriously disappeared, he heard a *ping* sound and opened his menu, it was the duel challenge Bloodsucker2000 had issued, he accepted it thinking "this guy can't be that weak, so why not." It was a one on one challenge, the timer set on ∞. Both players drew their weapons, Ryuga which still had the *Iron Short-Sword* all players are given at the start and Bloodsucker200 which used an *Steel Double-edged Axe*, so obviously he was at a slight disadvantage weapon-wise, but his knowledge and speed gave him the upper hand, he unequiped his armour leaving only a blue under shirt to protect him as the pre-battle timer went down to zero.

Bloodsucker2000 ran towards him at full speed, Ryuga dodged it only just and swung the sword at Bloodsucker2000 who lost his balance due to the weight of the Axe and the attack of the Sword "Wow your good, but that took little damage so, I still have the upper hand." with a cocky look on his face as he regained his balance, but the moment he reached his feet he was send straight back down as a blue flash blinded him. He turned around and Ryuga was running at him, he put up his axe to guard, Ryuga jumped a few feet back and his Sword started flashing blue again, Bloodsucker2000 got up and his battle axe started glowing orange. They ran at each other and swung their weapons, as they made contact a bright green light blinded nearby spectators who were rather enjoying the fight. When they regained Ryuga and Bloodsucker2000 stood behind each other, both their weapons firmly grasped in their hands.

"It seems I underestimated you." Were the words coming from Ryuga's mouth with his HP level in the yellow as Bloodsucker fell down to his knees. A "Victory" sign appeared above Ryuga's head as his stats increased when a "Level Up" sign appeared afterwards. "Who would've thought I'd defeat a level 3 guy in my first battle, although I knew that I could win, Blood sucker." He muttered as he turned around and looked down on Bloodsucker, and sheathed his sword.

He helped the downed Bloodsucker2000 up who said "Call me Kaiba, I apologise for thinking you're an easy prey, you probably need a new weapon, seeing I can't give you money, due to the fact that I spent it all, you should have this *Steel Long-Sword* I bought earlier."

"No thanks, I prefer short swords because they don't lower my agility too much." Answered Ryuga as walked away.

"Let me join you, only until I can give you the money I owe." Begged Kaiba as he pulled Ryuga's arm to turn him around.

"Ok, but just until you pay me." Said the winner as he opened his menu and pushed the *Request to join party* button which Kaiba accepted and they continued walking, he opened his map again and made a route to the closest armoury, as he walked up to the armoury he told Kaiba "you should get yourself healed, we can't go around fighting monsters if we don't have full health."

Kaiba took his advice and left, Ryuga walked into the huge building, when inside, he thought about how it looked similar Fairy Tail Guild's HQ, he went over the to man behind the counter and sold the *Leather Armour* he wasn't using and bought a few healing potions, and an elixer. As he left the store he used one of the potions and saw Kaiba walking towards him.

"Is that all you're gonna be wearing, I still can't believe you beat me having no armour, I'm even at a higher level than you, this is unfair." Kaiba cried out miserably. They left Starting Town in search of some higher levelled monsters when they came across a level 3 wolf which they defeated with ease. "I heard there's a dungeon around here somewhere with some high enough levelled monsters." Kaiba looked at Ryuga as he informed him of it.

"Alright then, we'll head there then, if it's not too much for you to handle." Implied Ryuga laughing at Kaiba.

"I'm not that weak, I'm sure I can handle myself, and besides, you and I, we make a splendid team." Kaiba looked up in excitement as he agreed to what Ryuga said about going to the dungeon.

They fought a few monsters on their way and Ryuga took heavy damage because he didn't have any armour but could easily heal himself using both the potions he bought and some of the potions Kaiba had. Ryuga levelled up to level 6 and Kaiba level up to level 5 seeing that Ryuga got the final hits on most of the monsters they fought.

Ryuga came to a standstill and looked and Kaiba as he requested "Hey, I think I have enough money to buy a better sword now, I think we should jump back so that I can get a light armour and a better sword." Kaiba gave a quick nod and they both opened their maps and jumped to the Starting Town.

They went to there armoury where Ryuga bought a *Steel Short-Sword* a *Light Iron Chest-plate* and some more potions and elixers. Kaiba bought nothing because he had got lucky because all the monster he killed dropped potions. After buying what they needed they made their way to an inn called Starting Town Inn. They healed and decided to stock up on potions and elixers and left for the dungeon.

On their way there they fought a few monsters but didn't quite gain a lot of experience, but got items from the stronger monsters that appeared, bhich they were sure would help them when they entered the dungeon. Before they new it, the sun, that was on it way setting when they started, had disappeared anf a huge full moon had replaced it.

Ryuga came to a standstille, and rubbed his eyes due to the lack of energy "I think its about time I go to sleep, don't wanna be tired tomorrow when I play again." He mumbled, reluctant to leave.

"Yeah, I was kinda about to suggest the same thing." Was Kaiba's reply as they both logged out.

Ryuga woke out of the coma state the NervGear put him in, placed it on a site board next to his bed, turned off his bedroom light and went back to his comfortable bed which was warm due to him laying on it while he was playing Sword Art Online. He struggled to get to sleep because he couldn't wait to play it again, so he decided to plan how he was going to play further, the way he was playing now, he could never be the number one ranked when the full version was released.

**Side note:**** I'd like to thank you for reading that and would like to ask if you would please tell me what you think about the story by review it below, that way I can see where I went wrong and can fix the problem immediately. I'll try to stick at a one chapter a week, minimuim so please follow this if you want to read it before your friends do.**


	3. Chapter 2

**I am so sorry for taking this long to write this next chapter but I've been quite busy and haven't had much time for this, but even so I hope that you will forgive me and enjoy the chapter that follows**

**Chapter 2: Conclusion to the BETA**

After a good night sleep, the hungry Ryuga Hikari went downstairs greeting his grandparents as he warmed a bowl of miso ramen leftovers from the night before, afterwards he took a bath and went back into his room to play Sword Art Online, he put the NervGear back on his head and went back to the world of Aincrad.

He later met up with Kaiba and they left for the dungeon again, finally arrived at the dungeon not knowing what lurks inside. They knew that this dungeon had powerful monsters found in it but they didn't know that the level boss was there. They fought some level four monsters who they mostly took out as though they were fighting level one slime. After countless battles with what seem to be an army of 300 spartans, they came to a huge staircase leading to a gigantic metallic doorway.

"I think that we should a look that, seeing that nobody put anything on the information boards, I'm quite sure that this hadn't been discovered by anybody else. We may be able to get a heads up on everyone else." Suggested the white haired Kaiba.

"Well, fine. But if we die, we should post this on the info boards" Ryuga answered in a worried tone as they climbed up the staircase which had a board next to is saying "Boss Battle up Ahead".

When they reached the top they saw a pitch black room through the doorway, they walked into the dark-filled room, their guard up expecting something far stronger than anything they fought before it. Ryuga got a fright as a touch lit itself, shortly after, more and more touches became lit and a metal gate closed the doorway in which they entered.

"Damn it!" Screamed an uncomfortable Kaiba trying to destroy the gate using his axe.

"I doubt that's gonna work, we shouldn't expect to be able to escape a boss fight." Explained Ryuga as he un sheathed his sword and equipped a *Pig-skin Shield*.

Kaiba started to calm down and kept his axe getting ready for a battle, a sudden rumble threw them both off balance. It took them a few second to regain it but then an even bigger one, much like an earthquake made them jump back seeing a huge minotaur landed before them wielding a black looking *battle axe*. They came to contact with the first floor's boss battle.

It was Ryuga's move first, seeing that he greatly increased the level of his agility stat, this made him look like a blue flash to people with a lower vision stat, Ryuga charged his attack and ran at the minotaur as Kaiba ran behind him, the minotaur swung his axe and Ryuga blocked it, giving Kaiba a chance to land a hit on it. Ryuga and Kaiba both jumped back and came up with a simple strategy that would make fighting the boss easier.

First, Ryuga ran in on his own and dodged an attack from the minotaur with ease and landed a 6-hit combo using a sword skill that only he knew thus far, Kaiba's axe begun glowing orange as he ran towards it, screaming he swung the axe at it using all his might and got a hit. They got in another few hits but so did the boss, their HP level was down to the red zone but they could recover easily, the battle went on for some while then finally, they got the boss into the red zone when he for some reason changed its weapon to a *Pyrus Spear* and landed unexpected hits on them both. The attack was powerful enough to break Ryuga's *Pig-Skin Shield*.

"This guy's too much!" Moaned Ryuga jumping back, using more potions to recover. He looked at Kaiba who's HP was low too and gave him some of his potions.

"Thank you, I needed this." Said Kaiba gratefully, using them at once.

They decided to run circles around the minotaur confusing it so that I won't know which side to focus on. Ryuga ran at him but changed direction at the last minute allowing Kaiba to hit it again, as soon as it turned at Kaiba, Ryuga jumped on its back doing the 6-hit combo sword skill, he jumped further away realising that Kaiba wasn't there anymore and though that he died and re spawned. So all he could do now was dodge and hit once seeing that he didn't have enough time to use a skill.

"This would've been so much easier if Kaiba were here, now it's gonna take way too long." Muttered Ryuga in an annoyed manner. The minotaur's spear set ablaze as it ran towards Ryuga. "Shit, if that hits me I'm dead."

The enraged boss ran toward him still, he lifted his flaming spear over his shoulders to strike full strength, Ryuga jumped sideways to dodge but knew that he wouldn't make it so he closed his eye and put his blade up to block, when he opened his eyes he realised that he wasn't in Starting Town and that Kaiba stood before him with sparks flinging off his axe.

"My apologies for not being there, but I wanted to use the sword skill I got earlier, it takes quite a while before I can use it, but it was worth the wait." Kaiba apologised as he reached his arm out to help Ryuga up.

When he got to he feet Ryuga sheathed his sword and told Kaiba "You could've told be about it, but don't sweat it, we beat it didn't we? Oh yeah, we'd better get back to Starting Town and post this on the info boards, but first let's check out the second floor." He walked to a door that appeared behind where the boss had been slain.

When they emerged on the other side they saw a medieval looking place which had a huge castle on their far left, they left for it and bought a few new weapons for the upcoming floors and went back to Starting Town to tells everyone about what they done and had found, the BETA version of Sword Art went well after that, Ryuga and Kaiba both reached level 10 by the time they got to the sixth floor, Ryuga became known as the Blue Lightning because one could only but see him move when in a battle, and as for Kaiba, he left Ryuga's party when they defeated the seventh floor boss, but even though they didn't speak much in the game they became close friends but never met in the real world due to their fear of what they would be like in reality. Ryuga joined a guild called the Gate Keeper Saints who specialised in sword fighting, which was also Ryuga's favourite kind of weapon. They defeated 4 bosses since Ryuga had joined them along with Kaiba but he later left, claiming it was because he felt uncomfortable about using swords and prefer to use axes, which made him feel left out in the guild.

Though the BETA was everything they'd expect from it, not much progress could be made in only that month, and at the end of the BETA period the testers were only able to reach the eighth floor, but never the less, it received high applause from many of its testers even though getting to the eighth floor was highly difficult. Ryuga stood at the entrance of Starting Town and though about what he and Kaiba had accomplished during their first boss battle together, and also what they did when they first joined the Saints, right at that moment, the reminiscing smile turn to a look of pain as he remembered why he thought Kaiba left. He put out his hand and flung his wrist to the left, which opened his menu and scrolled to the bottom, pressing the logout button, the last time he would be doing this for quite some time seeing that the BETA period finally came to an end.

He started glowing as he always did when leaving the game and saw a bright white light before seeing total darkness, he knew that he was home and took the Nervgear off of his head. Laying in his room, Ryuga couldn't feel less heart broken that he won't be able to play Sword Art until the full version's servers go online, so all he could do until then was wait and watch TV. He remembered a few anime from when he was young and decided to let them keep him company, seeing that he never feels the need to leave home. Soon the full version was released.

The streets of chiyoda were filled by thousands of people standing in lines, waiting for their chance to get their copies of Sword Art Online. "Countless hardcore gamers have come he to get their hands on the first Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, or VRMMORPG." Said the news reporter who was standing in front of a crowd gathering in front of a Gamestop. Many of them wouldn't get their copy of it because only ten thousand were to be released, greatly outnumbered by the number of people who wanted to buy it. Ryuga didn't have to worry about getting a his because all BETA testers were given the chance to pre-order theirs. So he was all sorted out, not only did he have first hand experience but also he got the game before most people.

"All ten thousand copies of Sword Art Online had been sold in a matter of seconds after the stores opened, breaking the record of 5 days" said the reporter with a look of shock on her face.

Ryuga immediately ran up to his room and pushed the start button on his PC. The blue light flashed to show the NervGear was active, he put the NervGear on his head as he went to lay down on his bed.


End file.
